


Starry-Eyed

by animeshen



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route, Friends to Lovers, Love Triangle, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-War, Rivals, Romance, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, and there was only one bed, death mention
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:55:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24052453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animeshen/pseuds/animeshen
Summary: "Annette returned to her hometown of Fhirdiad, where she took up a teaching position at the school of sorcery and mentored many great sages. Unfortunately, she remained prone to accidents, and one such event nearly took her life. Separated from her students in the mountains, she became totally lost-but just when it seemed she would never be found, she was rescued by none other than Caspar, who happened to be passing through on his travels around the world. After this lucky reunion, he escorted her to Fhirdiad, and during his time there, the two fell in love. The couple's fateful tale inspired a generation of young, starry-eyed students."
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Linhardt von Hevring, Caspar von Bergliez/Annette Fantine Dominic
Comments: 18
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to feed this ship tag a little...

Annette had done her best to separate her students from the bandits, and she was sure she had succeeded. A blast of a fire spell to create a barrier between the two groups, a shout, and Linhardt was steering the children away as fast as he could, away from the fire, and the startled brigands that lay in wait just on the other side.

But Annnette had not been on the same side of the fire as the students she taught- she had been on the side of the bandits. And so, she ran.

Due to her military training, she was able to evade them. But just as importantly was leading them away from the school. Her students at the Institute of Magic and Sorcery were barely teenagers at their oldest, and terribly unfit to defend themselves. Annette and Lindhardt, former soldiers of the King's army, were powerful mages in their own right- but taking on a band of marauders while defending children, by themselves, was nearing to beyond their capabilities. 

Trusting Linhardt, she ran deeper into the woods, and having no way through her magical wall of fire, the bandits followed her.

She could hear them crashing through the woods behind her- there must have been about fifteen or so. Every so often an arrow or spell would whiz past her, close enough to graze her. At one point she felt a sharp, terrible pain in her leg and stumbled, but caught herself and continued her escape, ignoring as best she could the warm blood she could feel tricking into her boot. She didn’t know where she was going- she didn’t know the woods this deep in. All she knew was,  _ away. _

Escaping had taken all of her power. Some defensive spells, a couple flashy distractions to lead them astray, and one by one she heard them breaking off- exhaustion, or injury, or just giving up. Within an hour, Annette could no longer hear them through the brush. Finally able to catch her breath, she collapsed against a tree, and lifted the hem of her skirt.

The arrow had sliced into her calf and the wound was weeping openly. Her dress was singed and torn, leggings ripped and bloodied, and her heart was still pounding from the chase. She had no idea where she was, and was afraid to backtrack for fear of coming back across the bandits. They had, over the past couple months, been creeping closer and closer to the school, from the reports the staff received. The Academy of Magic and Sorcery didn’t have a lot of valuables, but there were rare old books if one knew to whom they could be sold, and at the most frightening, there were the children- any number of the young nobles could fetch a ransom if kidnapped.

Annette absolutely would not let that happen. She would stake her life on it. She may already have.

She lit her palm with a healing spell and passed it over her calf, feeling the magic’s warm glow stitching her flesh back together, and afterwards wiped away the blood as best she could with the hem of her ruined dress. Faith magic had never been her strongest suit, and running had exacerbated the damage. She would have to ask Linhardt to take a look at it when she got back.

If she got back.

_ I won’t die out here,  _ she told herself,  _ Lin saw what direction I went. He’ll send someone to find me, after the students are safe. _

If he didn’t fall asleep, anyhow.

She waited an hour to catch her breath and hope the bandits gave up and left the area. The school would be on high alert now after their surprise attack during an outdoor lesson, so returning would be pointless for them; at least, that was her hope. Standing on a tender leg, Annette carefully poked her way back in the direction she had come from.

Unfortunately, in the chase, she had been forced to take several detours, zigzagging through the forest to avoid arrows, and as she was a less than competent tracker, she quickly lost her own trail.

Another hour past. That made it about three hours since she was separated from her class. No sign of the bandits, but no sign of the school, either.

Two more hours. She found a stream. She didn’t remember passing a stream- she didn’t know of any near the school. But she took the opportunity to drink some water and wash the blood off her leg.

The sun was hanging low in the sky, and Annette began to fret. She officially had no idea where she was, and if any search party had gone after her, she’d surely wandered so far away as to make herself impossible to find. She thought of her students, and Linhardt. Had they made it out okay? Was everyone unhurt and accounted for? Would they worry for her, when she didn’t come back? Would they assume the worst?

How useless could someone be? Even knowing about the prowling marauders, Annette had still lead an excursion outside the safety of the school. “It’s springtime!” She’d said. “Let’s get some fresh air!” She’d said. And now she was probably going to die, alone, in the woods, and wolves would eat her body, and no one would ever find her bones, and she’d become a ghost and haunt the forest forever.

She tensed suddenly, sensing something approaching. Throwing herself behind the trunk of a large tree, she waited. She could hear movement upstream. It could just be an animal…. But it could be a bandit. Annette steadied her breathing, listening carefully. Heavy footfalls, boots on the bank following the stream. It was definitely a person. Should she keep hiding, or ready a spell?

“HEY,” a loud voice called suddenly, “Whoever’s over there, if you wanna fight just come out and fight me head on!”

Annette blinked. There was absolutely no way. Impossible.

She peeked her head around the tree. There in the setting sun, with his body readied into a fighting stance, was none other than Caspar Von Bergliez.

“You’re  _ kidding _ ,” she breathed. Rounding the tree, Annette raised her hands. “Caspar?”

Caspar stared in obvious confusion as she approached, as though wondering exactly what time portal he had just stepped through. “....Annette?” He lowered his fists. “What the heck are you doing here?”

“I could ask the same of you!” Annette was incredibly relieved to see him, and it showed through the smile on her face. Caspar started to smile back, until he took in her ruined state.

“Annette, what happened? You’re bleeding!”

“Ah- Some bandits chased me and I’m afraid I got a bit lost evading them.” She fussed at her torn skirt, trying to hide the blood. Caspar scratched the back of his head.

“Geez, now there’s bandits, too? It sure doesn’t look like you  _ entirely  _ evaded them, but I guess the important thing is that you're _ alive.”  _

“The more important thing is that my STUDENTS are alive,” she corrected with a sigh. “Is that why you’re here? Are you coming to the school?”

“Yeah! Thought I’d see how Linhardts’ been. I heard he’s the librarian. Never thought that first I’d find you lost and injured in the woods! ….Again!”

Annette sighed in embarrassment, smiling awkwardly. “Once again, you’re my heroic knight, Caspar.”

“Say that once I’ve safely escorted you back to the school. Looks like those bandits played a number on you. Were they attacking the students?”

“I was leading some outdoor exercises in the woods,” she sighed again at her poor judgement. “We weren’t very far in, but when the bandits came, I made a diversion while Lin lead the children away. I’m so embarrassed…. I should never have taken them outside.”

“Hey, come on with that,” Caspar attempted to assuage her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “It’s good to take the little tykes outside sometimes, you couldn’t have known that would happen. And it sounds like you did a great job protecting them. So you’re alright, Annette!” He beamed at her, and Annette felt much better just for seeing his toothy grin.

“Thank you. I’ll feel better when we get back and I see them all, though. I got a little lost…. As you can probably tell. Do you know how far away we are from the school?”

Caspar scratched his head. “Not precisely. A couple hours at least, though. I’ve been following this stream. I was told when it forks into two paths, go straight down the middle and I’ll run into the school.”

“Why didn’t you just take the road?”

“I wasn’t on the road when I realized how close the school was,” he replied with a shrug. “I was hanging out with some old mercenaries for a bit, they camp up the mountain there, a couple days North.”

“Oh!” Annette hadn’t known mercenaries camped about here, though she supposed she wasn’t that surprised. Perhaps they could be persuaded to do something about the bandits. Another thought occurred to her, and she raised an eyebrow to him.

“Are YOU a mercenary?”

“Oh, nah,” he laughed, waving his hand. “Well, I mean, I won’t say NEVER. Since the war ended, I just kinda….. Do whatever.”

Annette’s heart clenched for a moment as her memories came back. Caspar had grown up Adrestrian, but joined her in the Blue Lions class after being impressed by their professor. In the war, he’d fought with them against the Empire… against his own people. Caspar didn’t have a home to return to. A surge of sympathy overwhelmed her for a moment, though in honesty, he didn’t seem to be suffering too badly for it- at least, not as much as she was, at present.

“Well, I guess the next thing then is to get to the school,” She suggested with a defeated sigh, pulling lightly at the bloodied hem of her dress. “I’d love a change of clothes.”

“I bet!” Caspar laughed for a moment with a shining smile, seemingly unaffected by her haggard state. Annette thought that if anyone else had seen her wearing her own blood, they might fret, but Caspar seemed to regard it as a badge of honor. After all, she’d won. His attitude changed though, when he gestured to the sky with a raised eyebrow.

“I feel I need to point out though, that I’m pretty sure we’re still a few hours away, and the sun is setting here.”

“...Oh.” Her head began calculating all the implications of that, and courses of action if left them.

Caspar continued. “I mean we can keep walking through the night if you want, but with bandits out I’d hate to get lost. I was honestly planning on setting up camp for the night pretty soon here. Oh- unless your wound is really bad?” He grit his teeth then, suddenly filled with a worry he hadn’t considered before. “Like, if you’re bleeding out, I can carry you.”

“No, no,” she waved her hand, “It was just a nick from an arrow, and I already healed it. Honestly, a rest would be fine. I just hope I don’t worry my students too much by being gone overnight…”

She still couldn’t help but worry that they’d tried to set out a search party…. That they assumed she’d been kidnapped by the bandits, or worse, killed by them… that the  _ search party _ had been overtaken by bandits….

“They’ll probably worry anyhow,” he shrugged, matter-of-fact. “I mean, I would, if it was my professor. Er,  _ our _ professor. That’s why you’d be better off taking less risks and trying to sleep a couple hours, rather than wandering through the night. Come on- we’ll go find a clearing to set up.”

He walked past her, the direction he had been going when they ran into each other and she followed him with little other choice. They chatted amicably for a while longer as they marched- Caspar quickly outpaced Annette however, as she still had an injury to her leg. He attempted to slow down to match her speed, but he was never one for doing anything slowly, and constantly found himself ahead again and had to stop to match her. Annette never once complained, just continuing to chat about how things had been at the school, about her students, about Lin, and anything pleasant- anything to keep her mind off her worries.

By the time they found a clearing big enough to keep them both, it was nearly dark. Caspar set up a small tent from a pack on his shoulders while Annette tended to a fire, just large enough to keep them warm and light their small encampment without drawing too much attention to their location. They sat around it in semi-comfort- a little cold, a little wary, but happy to have company all the same.

“So… what were you doing in the mountains?” Annette asked as she poked some small sticks into the fire. “With the mercenaries?”

“Little of this, little of that,” he shrugged. “A while back I ran into Shamir at a tavern. We drank together and she found out I wasn’t really going anywhere or doing anything, so she invited me to hang out with her guys for a while. They’re pretty strong! I found out a little while ago that Lin teaches at the school nearby, so here I am.”

“Oh, wow! You saw Shamir!” Annette clasped her hands together in delight- she hadn’t seen the woman since the war ended, and always wondered how the mysterious archer had fared. A thought then crossed her mind and she raised an eyebrow, pointing a finger at Caspar.

“Were… were you and Shamir…” She trailed off. Caspar laughed uproariously, waving a hand in front of his face.

“Oh, nah! I mean don’t get me wrong, she’s really pretty and REALLY strong, but I think she had something going on with Leonnie. OH! Leonnie was there, too! From Golden Deer, remember?”

“Oh, I do! Wow, you saw Shamir and Leonnie both? And they were… a thing? That’s amazing! How romantic! Did you meet anyone else?” Excitement rose in her voice at the rush of nostalgia from their Monastery days, hearing how old friends were doing. She kept in touch with Felix, Ashe and Mercedes through the mail, but had resigned herself that some people she would probably never hear from again. Previously, Caspar had been one of those people.

At her question, though, his smile faltered, and his blue eyes seemed far away.

“No,” he admitted, a little sullenly. “No one else.”

The atmosphere had changed in an instant. The way he said it made Annette’s heart wrench. It sounded…. Lonely. She was again reminded that Linhardt and Caspar were the only Black Eagles that had defected when Edelgard waged her war…. The only Black Eagles that hadn’t been killed. Her heart ached for him in that moment. Annette decided to change the subject.

“...Well! Shamir and Leonnie, who would have guessed! I suppose that leaves your heart open, then, for some other beauty to steal!” She teased with a bright, broad smile. Caspar met her smile with an arched eyebrow and a lighthearted smirk.

“Oh, yeah? Like who?”

“Like…” Annette thought for a moment, not expecting to be challenged on this, and then grinned at a flash of inspiration. “Like a bandit queen!”

He leaned back, arms behind his head and laughed, obviously entertained. “Really? A bandit queen?”

“Yup! Her marauders will surround you, you’ll put up a good fight but you’ll be outnumbered and captured! They’ll take you back to their camp but the queen is a strong, beautiful woman and you both fall in love at first sight!”

Caspar laughed boisterously, showing all his teeth. “I think I like where this was going! But it sounds like I need to be more careful.” His eyebrows lowered and he grinned challengingly. “I haven’t seen you in years, Annette. For all I know,  _ you _ could be the Bandit Queen!”

Annette’s eyes sparkled with mischief and she stood at once, grabbing Caspar’s axe from beside him and hefting it with relative ease.

“Oh ho ho! You’re right to suspect me, Caspar! I have been the Bandit Queen all along, living in secret at the Magic Academy!” She laughed, flourishing the axe theatrically. “Now, gimmie all your stuff!”

Caspar jumped to his feet, excited by this silly game, and readied his body into a fighting stance. He pointed an exaggerated finger at Annette with a dramatic sweep of his arm.

“Not today, Bandit Queen! I’m the hero, come to end your reign of terror!”

Annette stifled a giggle at the charade, lifting the axe with mock intent. She hadn’t handled a proper axe in a long time, and was surprised at how her body remembered so easily exactly how to hold one. She had trained with an axe before she had ever even trained in magic, but had abandoned it in her studies to be a gremory for the war, focusing on faith and reason exclusively and leaving Crusher in her professor’s care.

However, there must have been something threatening in the ease at which she brandished the weapon and smiled teasingly, “Then come at me, Hero!” because the next thing she knew, Caspar had rushed her with unexpected strength and speed. Annette couldn’t help the scream that escaped her as he disarmed her easily and in a flash, she had found herself unarmed and in striking distance.

She lit the spell almost on accident. As if acting on instinct, her body felt the need to defend her from a perceived threat and before she could even think about what had just happened, her fingers had sparked with a Wind spell, and Caspar had been launched off his feet. He tumbled backwards over a fallen tree trunk and landed on his back.

Annette gasped and rushed over, overwhelmed with fear and guilt and panic. Had she hurt him badly? Had she KILLED him? Annette cursed herself for being so stupid, for playing at a mock battle against someone she hadn’t seen in years when they were both still recovering from the ravages of war. Of course she would flinch like that- she had spent years honing the self-reflex to be able to defend herself at a moment’s notice! Her heart hammered in her chest as she leapt over the fallen tree. “Caspar!” She cried out. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

Caspar sat up, mildly dazed at best. He blinked a couple times, then looked up at Annette with a strange sense of awe. It was a fleeting look, that passed quickly as he replaced it with a cheeky grin, and rubbed the back of his head.

“Whoa! That was amazing, Annette!” He laughed. Annette was pleased to see that he seemed uninjured, but pouted all the same.

“It wasn’t! It was terrible! I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that, I just _ flinched _ I guess and-”

“Stop, Annette!” Caspar cut her off, waving his hand. “I don’t blame you! I came in too fast, I’m not surprised your reflexes kicked in like that, especially since you spent all afternoon fighting  _ actual _ bandits. Besides, I’m not hurt! So don’t worry about it!”

Annette calmed. His smile was genuine and disarming, and though she knew he was the type to laugh off his injuries, he also was bad at hiding his pain, and wasn’t showing any obvious signs of bleeding or concussion. She sighed in relief and held out a hand to help him up. Caspar accepted, his grip strong, and the two went back to the fire. Caspar picked up his pack.

“Well, Bandit Queen, since you won this round, I guess I have no choice but to surrender my belongings.” He laughed as he pulled some rations out of his pack and handed half to Annette, which she gratefully accepted without argument, starving. They sat back down around the fire, game abandoned, to eat in comfortable silence. The sun had well set, and Annette yawned, finding herself exhausted from the many ordeals of the day.

Caspar wolfed his share down as though he barely tasted it, and got to setting up his small tent and bedroll as she finished her meal. After, he removed his armor and flopped down in the dirt beside the fire with a yawn of his own.

“You can have my bedroll tonight. I’ll sleep over here.”

Annette flushed. “I couldn’t!” She insisted. “It's yours! Besides, it's still only early spring, after this fire dies down you’re going to get very cold!”

“I slept in the dirt plenty of nights,” he shrugged. “And you’re injured. What am I gonna do, leave YOU in the dirt? That wouldn’t be very ‘noble’ of me!” He chuckled, making himself comfortable as he pulled his travelling cloak up over him like a blanket.

Annette bit her lip, torn. She knew she wouldn’t win should she keep arguing, but she also hated the idea of leaving him shivering in the cold while she slept under his own blanket after she had accidentally blasted him across the clearing with her magic. He had essentially saved her life by finding her out here, when Goddess knows what would have happened if she’d been left on her own- there had to at  _ least _ be a compromise.

She had an idea. She didn’t know if he would go for it- it was a little bold. Possibly  _ very _ bold. Annette tried to hide the blush on her cheeks even as she thought it through, but despite her growing embarrassment, it still seemed the best solution. She cleared her throat, awkwardly.

“Okay. So we haven’t seen each other in a while, but we’ve still known each other for years, right?” She began, trying to force her voice to sound confident.

Caspar raised a curious eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“We’ve fought together and marched together and eaten and celebrated together. We’ve even saved each other's lives before. So you could argue we’re pretty close, right?”

“I… guess. Where are you going with this, Annette?” He seemed cautious, but intrigued. She took a breath.

“So… it wouldn’t be so weird to  _ share _ the bed, right? I mean- as friends! B-but it would be warmer, and no one would have to feel guilty!”

Her face burned hot. She meant the offer strictly platonically, but even she was well aware of the implications of a man and woman alone at night sharing a single blanket. She had read lots of stories that started just like this, and ended… Well. She knew what sort of books they’d been when she picked them up.

She studied Caspar’s face as he considered, but couldn’t read his expression and fretted a little in the silence. However, he didn’t make her suffer long. After a moment to think about it, Caspar sat up, shrugged, and replied with “Sure, why not?”

Annette somehow didn’t anticipate him actually  _ agreeing _ . She tried to convince herself she HAD expected it or she wouldn’t have suggested the arrangement, but the chance had seemed so  _ small _ . And yet, seemingly without a doubt in his head (maybe she really had hit it too hard?), he clambered over, spread his cape out on the ground in the suddenly _ impossibly _ small tent, and crawled inside.

Ridiculously small.  _ Unnaturally _ small. Even on his side, intentionally making room for her, he seemed to fill up so much  _ space _ . It wasn’t like she had forgotten how broad he was, but Annette wondered if something inside of her still expected he’d be the size he was back in their academy days before the war. What a surprise his growth spurt had been when the war had started and the class had reunited. And what a surprise it was now to see how much of him there WAS in contrast to a single person tent, and how he had filled it to capacity. How exactly, in her mind, had she thought this was going to work?

With a blush and a gulp, Annette followed, carefully climbing in with him. After all, this had been her idea. She turned to one side, facing away, as Caspar fixed the bedroll into a blanket and draped it over them both. He then turned away so only their backs were pressed together, to her relief. She had no idea how they hadn’t accidentally collapsed the tent by both being in there at once. Scrunched into the canvas walls, she could feel her heart pounding and the fire in her face. She could practically feel his heartbeat too, they were squeezed so tightly against each other. Why had she suggested this? It was so embarrassing!

...But not as embarrassed as she’d feel in the morning when his neck and back would have been sore from sleeping on the dirt, or if he’d caught a cold. Annette took a deep breath in and out, and remembered that this was the better option. 

Like she’d said- they were friends. Comrades-in-arms. They trusted each other. There was no reason they couldn’t safely and platonically share a bed roll. And tomorrow, when no one was sick from sleeping outside, they’d return to the academy and she’d show him the guest quarters and this would just be a strange memory.

“Goodnight,” she mumbled, a little too strained but finally calming enough to find a small amount of comfort in the heat his back was providing.

“G’nite,” She heard him mutter back, just moments before her exhaustion won over her embarrassment and she fell into a deep sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

The field was a sea of corpses, not a blade of green grass to be seen, so thick with blood it would take a dozen rains to fully wash away. Even then, the ghosts would remain. Spears and arrows blossomed from the earth like gruesome flora, as tattered flags waved weakly in the smoke. There wasn’t a man alive as far as he could see, and the air was rancid with the smell of death.

Lifeless eyes stared up at him, once familiar, now empty. A pang of fear and sorrow clutched at his heart. From seemingly nowhere, a headless body fell to his feet. His axe was in his hands, dripping with gore. Caspar wanted to scream. He wanted to panic and run, but he was rooted to the spot. More bodies piled up around him- more familiar faces, absent of light.

_ “Caspar…” _

Something new- a warmth. His fear began to subside, replaced with a growing sense of hope. He grappled for it, desperate for it’s comforting embrace, struggling against the death that surrounded him. The bodies continued to fall around him, stacking as high as he was tall, and he reached with all his strength-

“-Caspar!”

Caspar gasped audibly as he awoke, gulping in air like a drowning man, skin slick with sweat and trembling. He panted for breath as he blinked into the darkness, taking in his surroundings. For a moment he thought he could still smell the smoke, still see the blood, until his eyes adjusted. The small tent was familiar… the girl in his arms was not.

Annette’s face was the picture of concern, and he realized she was the voice that called to him, and the warmth he chased was her body- he had wrapped his arms around her at some point in the night and held her tight against him, chest to chest, clutching her like a lifeline and panting in slow, shallow breaths. She must have awoken him when she realized he was having a nightmare.

He had  _ so many _ nightmares.

He didn’t let go.

“I’m sorry,” he breathed, slowly calming. One arm was around her shoulders, the other over her slim waist. He knew this wasn't appropriate, that he was asking too much, but he couldn't think rationally at the moment with his heart still hammering in his chest. “Can I just… can you just…”

“It’s okay.” Her voice was soothing. Turning her body into him, she placed a cool, gentle palm on his cheek. To Caspar, it felt like safety. His heart rate finally slowed, and wrapped around Annette, he closed his heavy eyes and fell back into a dreamless sleep.

Dawn came. With the light, Caspar awoke fully, blinking back into the waking world. Instantly he was greeted by the sight of orange hair splayed across his cloak beside him.

With a start, Caspar realized where he was and who he was with, and a wash of humiliation and regret flooded him. Annette. She’d offered to share his tent last night, and he’d agreed so  _ readily _ . What was he thinking? He knew he had nightmares, violent nightmares that made him scream and thrash in his sleep. He hadn’t wanted Annette to see that, to see him so weak, and worse still, he latched onto her like a child.

He looked down at her sleeping face, tucked into his chest. She fit so perfectly, snuggled against him…

To Caspar's credit, he did not jump away in a panic, as that would have woken Annette who- as far as he could tell- was still sleeping peacefully, unaware of their intimate situation. She’d had a rough go of it the day before, with fighting bandits, getting injured, and being lost for hours, so Caspar wasn’t surprised that she slept in. The last thing she needed was to be forced to comfort her rescuer whom she hadn’t seen in years from the throes of a nightmare. 

Slowly and carefully he untangled himself from the sleeping girl and crawled out of the small tent. Compared to their combined body heat in that small space, the brisk morning air was positively frigid, and chilled him to the bone. Caspar shivered and trudged into the woods a few paces to relieve himself. Moments later, he heard the shuffle of Annette pulling herself out of the tent as well, and slogged groggily into the woods on the opposite side of the clearing as him.

They met back at the fire and Caspar couldn’t help but to glance obviously up at Annette’s face as she poked at the dying embers, trying to discern her expression. Was she annoyed? Embarrassed? Did she remember at all? He wondered if he should bring it up, to apologize, or continue pretending nothing happened. After all… nothing  _ did _ happen. A cuddle with a fully clothed friend was perfectly innocent, right?

But she didn’t look mad. If anything, it seemed like she was just still tired, her eyes sallow and movements slow. That didn’t align with what he remembered about the girl, who was always the first to wake and the last to sleep, and was bright as sunshine the whole day through. Concern for her opinion of him was quickly replaced by concern for her overall well being. “You okay, Annette?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” she yawned in reply. “I guess I’m just a little worried about my students.”

That made more sense. But her obvious stress made him anxious. He hated seeing her without that ever-present smile.

Caspar stood to bundle his tent and bedroll back into his travelling pack. “Then let’s not waste any more time. Go ahead and put that out and we’ll get back on the trail.”

Annette nodded and threw dirt onto the last warm embers of the fire, stomping the char out with her boot. Soon they were back on their way to the Academy.

Annette’s mood perked as the sun rose higher, and the two talked easily through the journey. Despite the years since the wars’ end when they had parted ways, they chatted as though no time had passed at all, like they had just seen each other yesterday in the dining hall. It was comfortable and relaxed, and Caspar was glad for the company, and glad to see the smile return to her face.

But he did notice, the longer they walked, that she was favoring one leg over the other. It was subtle at first, but the limp became more pronounced as time went on, slowing her down considerably. Annette kept on a brave face, but it was more than a little obvious she was still in pain from that arrow wound.

“...You don’t look so good,” he finally said. “Why don’t you let me carry you?”

“Absolutely not!” She flushed. “You’re already carrying your pack for one thing, for two I don’t want my students to see me that way, and for three it’s not that bad, I can handle it!”

“Annette…” Caspar sighed. Was she always this stubborn? “I can carry you  _ and _ the pack, you aren’t that heavy and I don’t know if you remember, but I’m  _ pretty _ strong.” He meant that as a practical fact, but also couldn’t help but to boast a little, flexing his bicep at her. “Seriously, your leg is clearly bothering you and to be honest, at your pace, it’ll take us twice as long to get there. If you just let me carry you, we can get to your students faster.”

She fretted obviously in indecision, worrying at her lip. Caspar didn’t understand what the big deal was. They’d already slept together. Platonically.

Ever impatient, he didn’t wait long for her to think about it, and with a roll of his eyes, bent over and scooped the girl into his arms.

“HEY!” Annette protested loudly, struggling vainly against his grip. “Caspar!! Put me down!”

“Relax!” He smiled confidently, holding her tighter to resist her fighting. “Just trust me, I can get you there in no time this way!”

“This is embarrassing!” she complained. Her cheeks were flushed, which Caspar thought was kind of cute, but he also didn’t understand what there was to be embarrassed about.

“Why? I’m just trying to help. Geez, why are girls so fussy over being carried? Bernadetta always complained, too.”

“You have a  _ habit _ of this?!”

Eventually her protests died down and she resigned herself to his care, pouting quietly. Caspar carried her easily, even proudly, feeling a little gallant. She was so light and soft, almost fragile. It was astounding to remember how much destructive power she had at the tips of her fingers. She had been devastating in the war, taking out armoured men three times her size. Even just last night, she knocked him off his feet during a game. And yet here she was, this little thing, red-faced and sulking petulantly in his arms.

He was right, though- this was the faster course of action. In no time they found that they were near the school at last, and when she recognized her surroundings, Annette demanded to be put down and walk the rest of it herself, not wanting her students to see her carried back in the arms of a stranger. After being off her leg for a little while, her hobble wasn’t as pronounced, so Caspar heeded to her wishes.

Finally, the Institute of Magic and Sorcery was in sight, backdropped by the kingdom capital, Fhirdiad. Caspar had been intentionally avoiding the roads getting here, and even now felt a twinge of unease in his gut. Though he had fought for King Dimitri in the war, he was still born an Empire noble, and was more than tired of fighting the backlash he received for that. But the institute employed Linhardt, another former Empire noble, so that was reason enough for Caspar to feel safe.

As they stepped foot onto the school grounds, they were recognized by a nearby student, whose eyes flew open at the sight of them.

“Miss Dominic!” The boy shouted, dashing towards her. Annette smiled gratefully, placing her palm on his cheek with heartfelt affection.

“Victor! I’m so relieved! Did everyone make it back okay? Was anyone injured?”

“We all made it back! But where were you? Everyone was looking!”

A commotion had started by now as more students poured in, calling to each other and to their teacher. Soon, Annette and Caspar were surrounded by dozens of children, all between the ages of ten and fourteen, expressing their relief and curiosity, eyeing Caspar with interest as their teacher calmed and soothed them with a gentle smile.

“Thank you- I’m safe, I really am. I’m so glad you all made it back! Oh, this is Caspar, an old friend of Linhardt and I from when we were in school,” she introduced to the crowd. “He found me in the woods and brought me back. Where  _ is _ Lin, anyhow? He better not be asleep!”

“I’m awake,” a familiar voice chimed in tiredly, and Linhardt emerged, breaking through the group. “I deserve a nap, though. We spent all night looking for you, you know.”

His eyes flicked over to Caspar with a minute amount of surprise to see his old friend, and then over to Annette, taking in her haggard state and the blood on her dress wordlessly.

“I’m so sorry!” Annette apologized, fretting. “I got  _ really _ lost and had to stay overnight! If Caspar hadn’t found me, I don’t know  _ what _ would have happened!”

“Stop, stop.” Linhardt waved his hand, dismissing her apology. “Your plan worked, everyone is alive, so there's nothing to be sorry for. Now, follow me to the infirmary, let’s see what trouble you got yourself into. As for you…”

He looked over to Caspar, and a small, reserved small appeared on his face. “It’s good to see you, Old Friend. Thank you for rescuing my wife.”

Caspar blinked in surprise, feeling like his heart just stopped. The students giggled, and Annette groaned.

“I- I’m sorry…. Your  _ wife _ ?” Caspar blanched, his shock evident. How did he hang out with Annette all of yesterday and she didn’t once mention this? How could Linhardt get married and not tell him?

“I’m not his wife!” Annette insisted angrily in reply, rolling her eyes. “He just  _ calls _ me that because I’m the only one who makes sure he’s eating and doing his laundry!” She reeled on Linhardt with fire in her eyes. “And I wish he would  _ stop _ , because it’s confusing to everyone and scares off anyone who might  _ actually _ want to court me!”

“Yes, I’m very romantic.”

A lot had just happened all at once, and Caspar didn’t know how to respond except to laugh at the absurdity. It was odd to think of Linhardt, his best friend of many years, having this whole separate life with Annette that Caspar had no part of, complete with affectionate in-jokes. But what else had he expected? He’d been gone travelling for years. Yet somehow, it was so easy to think that as far as Lin was concerned, time would just stand still. A sense of loneliness came over him, which Caspar immediately chased away with confident enthusiasm.

“Hah!” Caspar barked out a laugh, and reached forward to yank Linhardt into a fierce one-armed hug, pulling the startled man unexpectedly into his embrace. “Even your courtships are lazy! Your days of afternoon naps are up now, Lin! While I’m hanging around, I’m gonna make  _ sure _ you get some training in! Can’t have you going soft on me, now!”

“...And  _ how _ long are you staying?...”

The students were now entirely focused on Caspar, their teacher’s hero and rescuer, with reverence and awe. They began shouting questions over each other, causing a ruckus. 

“Where did you come from?”

“Are you a bandit?”

“Were you in the wars?”

“Have you ever killed anyone?”

“Can I touch your axe?”

Caspar was immediately overwhelmed, stammering awkwardly. “Ummm….” He liked kids well enough, but he’d never been the center attraction to this many at once. Annette noticed, and clapped her hands to gain their attention.

“Students, take today as a study hall and get some work done. Caspar and I are going to go with Lin, and then tomorrow classes will resume as usual, bright and early! I promise I’ll tell you all what happened in the morning, so be good for me tonight!”

The children protested and continued trying to ask questions as Linhardt led the adults into the school. Caspar carefully put an arm around Annette to lend her his shoulder so the students wouldn’t see her limp. At first they followed like a gaggle of baby geese, but one by one the kids broke off, assured in their knowledge that their teacher was safe.

“You seem pretty well-liked,” Caspar laughed as Linhardt opened the infirmary door to usher them inside before any more curious on-lookers could follow them.

“I do my best,” She smiled back, sitting gratefully down onto one of the beds.

“She does  _ too much _ ,” Lin complained, picking through a shelf for a vulnery. Annette stuck her tongue out at him.

“And  _ you _ don’t do enough!” She chided back, but his expression didn’t change.

“Indeed. And I don’t recklessly get myself injured for it, either. Lay on your stomach.”

Annette grumbled, pink-faced as she turned around to present her injured calf more readily. Lying face down on the bed, Caspar pleasantly noted that he was treated to a fantastic view of her perfect ass. 

_ Nice. _

Her previously white dress was tattered and stained with blood, dirt and grass. With absolutely no regard, Linhardt pulled at the arrow hole in her leggings, and tore it open, exposing her wound and most of her leg with it. Annette protested but he ignored her, carefully examining the patch-work job she did of healing herself. White magic ignited on his fingertips as he traced the path of the scar, feeling her skin for infection or disrepair, and Caspar traced the same path with his eyes, wondering why he never tried learning white magic for himself because it suddenly looked very appealing.

Linhardt pulled his hands away from Annette and leaned back, expressionless. “You walked on it too long without healing it, and then walked on it too long right  _ after _ healing it. Honestly, I shouldn’t even have to tell you this. Stay off it for the rest of the day, and drink this.” He handed her the vulnery, and turning back upright on the bed Annette grumbled as she accepted it, hating to be bedridden. She uncorked the potion and tipped it back, drinking it down quickly with a grimace.

“-And stop pouting,” Lin sniped before she could verbally register her complaints. “I’ll even go out of my way to bring you something to eat. Meanwhile I’m sure I can entrust Caspar to bring you to your room.”

“On it!” Caspar announced and without waiting another second, scooped Annette off the bed and into his arms once again. Her kicks and screams meant nothing as he carried her out of the infirmary with a grin.

"So, where are we going?"

"Put me down and I'll lead you there myself! I can walk, Caspar!"

"Nuh-uh! Doctor's orders! You need to stay off that leg, so just tell me what direction to go, Annette!"

Annette hid her blushing face in her hands, groaning in embarrassment. With a frustrated grunt, she pointed down a hall that led to staff housing. Her knight carried her happily, following her every direction, though she was clearly less than thrilled, especially when she was spotted by giggling students who proceeded to whisper behind their hands.

"I am never gonna live this down with them," she groaned.

"Ah, who cares what they think," he replied dismissively. "This is just friends helping friends. Besides, they're, like, eleven."

"That may be so," she shot back angrily, her eyes a storm, "but I need them to respect me in the classroom, and how can I do that if they think I'm some damsel in distress?"

"Annette," he started in an uncharacteristically cool voice, "as I understand, yesterday you almost single handedly saved them from a bandit attack. I don't think you have to worry about your reputation."

Annette hummed in annoyance but said nothing, and Caspar took that win point.

When they arrived at the faculty housing, Annette didn’t have to point out which room was hers because it was the one blocked by a small crowd of twelve year old girls, who giggled and fawned when they saw their teacher in Caspar’s arms.

“It’s just a little sprain!” Annette tried to explain to her students, exasperated. Caspar set her down so she could unlock the door, and she fumbled with the keys, blushing red with a furrowed brow as the girls chimed in around her with stars in their eyes.

“Miss Dominic! Will you tell us how he saved you?”

“Is he an old boyfriend?”

“Is he married?”

“Is he gonna stay?”

“Girls,  _ please _ ,” Annette begged in a voice thick with exhaustion. “I promise we’ll discuss this in class tomorrow.”

The door opened and Annette flung herself inside. Caspar followed easily, unwilling to be left alone with this gossiping group.

As he shut the door behind him, he heard them laughing loudly on the other side. “He went inside her room!” They squealed, and Caspar found himself feeling a little self conscious. 

Annette flopped onto her bed with a sigh as Caspar took a seat at her desk. He felt a little uncomfortable in this unfamiliar place, but everything in this room, from the makeup to the stacks of books to the stockings on the floor was so very  _ Annette _ that it put him at ease.

“I feel bad I lost my cool just now,” she said suddenly, laying back on her bed with her legs dangling over the side. “I know they were worried about me and I was  _ so  _ worried about them. But now that I’m back, I guess I’m just tired. Which isn’t like me, you know?” She catapulted back up to sitting, and tried to pace around her room, though her leg was clearly still sore.

“I should be checking on every student right now! They must have been so scared! I can’t sit here, I gotta go back out there, I need to-”

“Whoa, slow down!” Caspar stood to block the path between her and the door. “You can do all of that tomorrow, but for now you’re gonna stay in bed if I have to tie you there!”

Annette blushed bright red, which made Caspar blush too, as he hadn’t considered the implications of that statement until she did, or was that what she was thinking, was he the only one thinking of the implications of that? WERE there any implications of that or was he just overthinking? Oh no it was getting weird-

“So… lay back down!” he insisted awkwardly. "Just for one night. You can go back to overworking yourself in the morning.”

She tisked in annoyance and sat heavily back down on the bed, arms crossed petulantly. Caspar tried to comfort her. "Linhardt said all the kids were fine. You don't wanna make them worry seeing you like this, do you? Blood stained and limping?"

The look on her face, the wide-eyed embarrassment, proved she had forgotten how disheveled she appeared until she looked down at her torn stockings and muddy dress. Annette groaned loudly, and Caspar responded by kneeling on the floor in front of her with uncharacteristically soft eyes.

"Here. Let me help."

He took her injured leg gingerly in his hands. Caspar wasn’t one known for doing anything gently, but Annette was a girl who sometimes needed to be told it was time to stop, and this time, it seemed he had to be the one to do it.

Taking her heel, he pulled on her leather boot and slid it down and off her foot. The leggings were shredded and hung loosely off her calf, filthy and unsalvageable, and her sole was caked in dried blood that had trickled down from her wound and pooled in her shoe. Not a pretty sight, but not the worst he had ever seen. He took her other leg in the same gentle fashion and removed the boot similarly, laying it beside it’s twin. Caspar glanced upward then, geared to offer some platitudes or advice but all the words died in his throat at the expression on her face; the parted pink lips, the soft blush, the wide, attentive blue eyes, the colour of a rainy day, focused entirely on him. Caspar’s heart may have stopped for a moment, or sped up, he wasn’t sure which. He coughed instead, and stood up, turning away to hide his own reddening cheeks.

“..Thank you Caspar,” he heard her say behind him, and turned slightly. “For everything. For finding me, for taking me here, for… everything. You’re a true friend.”

Annette grinned at him and he grinned back, feeling more like a knight than any moment of the war at that moment.

“Don’t mention it!”

“Um… Caspar…” She fidgeted slightly, red-faced, and a sinking sensation came over him. She fussed at the dirt under her fingernails for a second, then took a deep breath and looked him in the eye with worry plain on her face.

“Are you gonna be okay… sleeping alone?”

Ah. So she did remember this morning, after all. He would rather she had pretended to forget. So instead, HE pretended to forget.

“What, me? Of course! I’m used to it!” He laughed her concern off, channeling an image of his usual, boisterous self. Annette sighed- in relief or resignation, he did not know.

“Okay. But… if you need me… then…”

There was a knock on the door, which then opened without any acknowledgement, and Linhardt was there, with a tray of dinner as promised.

“I should get injured more often,” Annette smirked coyly as she accepted the tray, “This is the nicest Lin has been to me.”

“Harsh words,” Linhardt replied coolly. “You talk as if I’m some uncaring brute.”

“Not uncaring… just too lazy to put in the effort for other people.”

“Well then, mark this occasion. I told you I would try for you, Annette.”

“Oh, sure, acting cool now that your friend is here to witness!”

“Oh, please. Like I ever cared what Caspar thought of me.”

“HEY!” Caspar interjected in offence, not liking the way they were talking about him like he wasn’t there. Annette giggled lightly.

“Alright, if I’m going to be bedridden then I’m ushering you two OUT so I can change out of these filthy clothes. Lin, take Caspar to administration, see if you can get him a room. I’ll see you both tomorrow. So, shoo!”

Annette waved her hands at them in dismissal. As they opened the door, Annette called out to Caspar with a wry smile and a raised eyebrow. "Goodnight,  _ Hero _ ."

He smiled back coyly. "Goodnight,  _ Bandit Queen." _

Upon exiting, Lin led Caspar down several corridors to the head offices to meet the school administrators.

They walked in silence for a while, ignoring the stares of the students. When they were alone, Caspar asked a question.

“Does anyone know your full name?”

There was silence, save only for their footfalls on the pathway, for a long moment until Lin answered.

“The faculty. But none of the students. You would be wise to do the same- It could be problematic to have the children writing home to their parents about faculty members with the names of Adrestian nobles, in the heart of Fearghus territory.”

Caspar hummed in solemn agreement. He wished it wasn’t this way, but the wounds of war were still very raw in Foldan, and people like him and Linhardt needed to tiptoe to survive. It was aggravating, offensive and hurtful, but it was better than not surviving at all- like so many of their Adrestian peers. He hoped that soon, their names would read with pride, rather than fear, from Faerghus nobles.

But that process came one step at a time. Linhardt’s first step was to endear himself to the nobles of the future while working on his research in Crestology. Caspar wondered how hard it would be to do something similar.

He was introduced to the Academy’s administration that afternoon, and by the end of the night, he’d been hired as the Institute of Magic and Sorcery’s new weapons master.


	3. Chapter 3

Caspar had ingratiated himself into the Academy in no time at all. The faculty liked him for being hard working and cheerful, the boys liked him for being strong and skilled, and the girls liked him for being handsome and kind. There hadn’t been much need for a weapons master at an institute of magic- and in fact, the only thing he was asked to teach was swordsmanship, which was NOT his weapon of choice- but he was willing to take on any task asked of him without complaint, so the staff decided maybe a weapons elective class would get the kids outside and exercising more, and kept him on.

Caspar’s elective weapons class was immediately popular with the students. He became a favorite teacher practically overnight, and though it took him three full days to feel comfortable stepping out of his room without his armor, he seemed to absolutely relish the childrens’ energy, even going so far as to teach particularly devastating strikes to some of the older boys that hung around him after hours. Students who weren’t taking the classes started making a habit of coming to the training field to watch while they did their homework, and the atmosphere of the school in general seemed somewhat lighter for his presence.

Annette wondered to herself if he was happy just to have someplace to  _ be _ , rather than the aimless travelling he had been doing for so many years. It helped that he was able to rekindle his friendship with Linhardt so quickly- any time available, Caspar was found chatting Lin’s ear off, challenging him to fights, trying to convince him to come train. Linhardt acted beleaguered, but it was clear enough to Annette that he was happy to have his old friend around, exhausting though he was.

In her own class, as promised, Annette regaled her students with the harrowing tale of her escape from the bandits and subsequent rescue. The children were enraptured by the story, and she spent more time than intended elaborating scenes and answering questions as she painted a narrative that hopefully would shine an impressive light on her. This, however, had an unintended consequence she could not have foreseen- a faction of her students (mostly but not ENTIRELY girls) now hoped to see their teacher and Caspar fall in love and get married, enamoured by his gallantry in her time of need. To make matters worse, there was a  _ different _ faction that had been hoping for the past year that she would marry Linhardt, who already called her his 'wife'. Annette had tried to discourage this behavior, explaining that her personal life was not a fiction for their amusement and to spend more time on their studies and less time on these silly and- frankly-  _ invasive _ stories, but it seemed the students had little else to entertain themselves with because the rumours continued.

For their parts, Caspar seemed to find the whole thing funny and Lin didn't seem to care. “Kids that age fixate easily,” he shrugged over a shared meal one night. “Soon they’ll find something else to be obsessed with and your affairs won’t entertain them anymore.”

Annette scowled. “Don’t act like this doesn’t involve you, Lin! They’re supposed to respect us as teachers and mentors, not fictionalize our love lives!”

“I don’t care because it  _ doesn’t _ involve me,” he replied easily, sitting back with a cup of tea. The dining hall was empty but for the three of them, and evening staff cleaning up from supper. “It involves a fantasy character they  _ projected _ onto me- and the both of you. If it bothers you so much though, go find one of those tales of knighthood Ashe loves so much and read them that, see how quickly they change target.”

“I think it's funny,” Caspar laughed. “I like being known as a ‘romantic hero’. It’s WAY better than being known as an Imperial traitor.”

Though he was smiling as he said it, Annette felt a sting in her heart for both of her friends at that moment. She was born in Faerghus, a kingdom noble, and it never occurred to her that she might be privileged compared to her two companions, who despite being war heroes, bore the names of Adrestian nobles who had been heavily involved in Edelgard’s rise to power. Even five years after the war, anti-Empire sentiments were still strong with the Fodlan people, the scars still fresh as they rebuilt. Annette couldn’t even begin to imagine the resentment they faced, despite all their efforts for King Dimitri and the archbishop-queen.

“See, that plays into my point!” She said, brushing aside these intrusive and despairing thoughts to return to her original point with a sweeping gesture to Caspar. “Gossip can be damaging. What you hear third-party can change your entire opinion of someone, even if there’s no proof.”

“I really think you’re overthinking this, Annette,” Caspar tried with a grimace. She scowled, annoyed at them for not taking her seriously- even though she was very much aware that she did occasionally panic over worst-case-scenario situations. Better to be over-prepared than under-prepared, right?

“Just… don’t encourage that behavior when you see it,” she muttered into her teacup.

Caspar slapped his hands on the table with finality as he stood, pulling away from his seat. “Well, riveting though this is, I’m gonna go burn some energy in the training yard. You coming, Linhardt?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Aw, come onnnnn! I saw you napping, like, TWICE today, you can’t be tired!”

“I was napping to conserve energy for this evening, where I was planning on doing some very important reading. Go by yourself.”

Caspar frowned, rolling his eyes in defeat as he acquiesced. His gaze dropped to Annette, and his smile perked back up.

“How ‘bout you, Annie? Let me settle the score against the Bandit Queen!”

“Oh, not tonight,” Annette shook her head, setting her teacup down. “I have a million essays to grade. I’ll try to make time this week!”

Caspar threw his hands up and turned towards the door. “Man, you guys got so  _ lame _ while I was away. I’m gonna go punch stuff, goodnight.”

When he was gone, Linhardt turned to Annette with a curiously raised eyebrow.

"And who is the Bandit Queen?"

"Your wife," she replied with a coy smile.

  
  


Unfortunately, Annette didn't get a chance to spar with Caspar that week as promised. It turned out, being a teacher was incredibly time consuming- aside from the actual time spent in classroom, there was reading essays, grading tests, writing lesson plans, discussing grades with the students and assigning extra credit- not to mention the somewhat maternal role taken after hours to ensure the children's health and happiness, as many of the students didn't come from nearby Firhidad and lived on campus in dorms. Both the male and female dorms hired a den mother to take care of their needs, but that didn't stop Annette from having to break up fights and comfort crying children.

Not that she minded- she loved the students and loved her job. Nonetheless she was grateful, one misty morning in May, that as a gift, other members of the faculty were going to share her load to ease her burdens and take some of the responsibilities off her plate. She scheduled no homework the night before, giving her nothing to grade, and the classroom activity scheduled for the day was a practical exam for her students to demonstrate learned spells. Yes, Annette determined, this year she was going to have a wonderfully peaceful birthday.

Smiling to herself, she dressed in her favorite turquoise sweater and white skirt, with the ribbon in the back, and applied a touch of makeup- she wanted to look on the outside like she felt on the inside. Donning her gloves (but not her capelette because it was a tad warm), she headed out of her room and towards her class, singing quietly to herself.

_ “A day’s away, a day in May, a day to cast my fears away; _

_ A cake, a pie, a cookie too; _

_ Replace the old with something new!” _

Annette giggled to herself- she had just made that one up on the way out the door, and was tremendously pleased with it, though no one would ever know. When she reached her class, she opened the door and was delightfully surprised to hear a chorus of “Happy birthday, Miss Dominic!” From her students. Her desk was filled with small gifts- cards, flowers, fruit, and even some sweets, which made Annette’s heart soar. She flushed with happiness, thanking them all sincerely.

“I’m so grateful to all of you!” she beamed, collapsing her hands over her heart as though it would burst from her chest. “I couldn’t ask for a better class!”

Within the hour, she ushered them all at the training yard for their practical exams. Caspar had just reset the training dummies and targets, fixing them to the best of his ability from previous rough treatment. Some of the girls blushed and giggled when they saw him- some of the boys straightened their backs, trying to appear tough. Annette had them all sit in the grass opposite the yard to watch.

“Hey, Annette! I mean- Miss Dominic!” Caspar greeted with his usual cheerful grin and shining sky-blue eyes. Upon seeing him, Annette flushed pink, taken aback. She could tell he’d just been working out, because he was wearing a light tunic and the sweat of his body made the fabric stick to his muscles in ways she should decidedly NOT be noticing. His arms were bare for the garment’s lack of sleeves, and had his biceps  _ always _ been that big?  _ Goodness, _ it was an unusually warm morning for this early in the year….

“Good morning, Caspar!” She greeted in return, purposefully avoiding saying his last name, as she did with Linhardt- and purposefully looking directly at his face and not at his body. “It’s time for their practical exam. Is everything in order?”

“It sure is!” he boasted, puffing out his chest in pride. “Got everything all set up! You kids are gonna have to cast some real tough spells to destroy THESE dummies!” He turned to the observing students, hands on hips as he bragged. Annette couldn’t help a giggle- he was always so confident. She liked that about him. Some of the girls beside her giggled as well.

“I can destroy them!” An eight year old boy bragged, jumping to his feet and miming fierce spellcasting with dramatic flair. “I’m gonna destroy TEN dummies!”

“Ohhh, tough guy, Alain!” Caspar laughed admirably. “If anyone can do it, I bet it’s you!”

Alain beamed with pride as Caspar moved off the field to give the students room to begin their exam. An eleven year old girl, Greta Weiss, smirked up at her teacher with a playful sparkle in her eye

“He looks very handsome today. Don’t you think so, Miss Dominic?”

Annette turned bright red in embarrassment, grimacing down at her student with a more than obvious expression. Cheeky girl!

“Sounds like you’ve just volunteered to go first,” Annette clipped, and Greta groaned.

One by one, the students volunteered (or were forcibly volunteered) to take their exam, standing nervously in front of their classmates as Annette asked them to perform various sigils and attempt several spells. She was making notes as they went on who seemed to be showing more aptitude towards which affinity, if any- many were still very young and showed no favoritism towards any particular school, and some knew the sigils but couldn’t conjure a single spell. These skills would be honed later on at the Officer’s Academy, should their parents choose to send them there- Annette’s job was mainly to teach them the basics. Still, it was good to note if there were any particular standouts in her class.

Greta Weiss, the cheeky girl, was one of them. She was Annette’s only student to possess a crest- a minor crest of Indech, as she understood. The girl was already casting spells above her level. Annette did her best not to single her out, or draw any attention towards these skills, but continued challenging her with more advanced homework than most of the rest of the class.

By lunchtime, all the students had finished their exams, and Annette decided to release them all early- a gift to them for doing so well, and a gift to herself for her birthday. They happily scattered, and Annette went to the dining hall to meet Caspar and, surprisingly, Linhardt, who usually missed lunch or took it in his room. As she sat across from them though, she understood, because he immediately slid a large book across the table to her.

“Happy birthday, Annette.”

Caspar balked, eyebrows shot up to his forehead as he whipped his head up from his plate to face her. “It’s your BIRTHDAY?”

“Ah… yeah,” Annette flushed, realizing she had never told him. “But don’t worry about it! You don’t have to do anything! I’m happy just to have lunch with you!”

Turning back down to Linhardt’s gift, she lifted it gingerly as she read the cover. Her eyes lit up as she recognized the tome, touching its’ leather bound covers with awe.  _ Thurston’s Unabridged Practical Magick and Sorcery _ . This book had been banned from Garreg-Mach for containing spells related to…  _ bedroom activities _ .... But it also contained more non-destructive practical magic than any other she had found, and she had been looking for it since she learned of its existence. Annette felt her heart swell up as she beamed brightly at Linhardt, clutching her gift to her chest.

“Thank you so much, Lin!” She gushed, her voice breaking with emotion. Linhardt smiled in that small, guarded way that he did.

“Well, I did owe you for forgetting last year.”

“Oh enough, I told you already not to worry about that!”

“Sure, but what kind of husband would I be?”

“LIN!” she reddened, embarrassed every time he made that joke. She pouted visibly at the small, sly smirk on his face. Why did everyone like to tease her so much!

And then Caspar jumped up so suddenly and forcibly from the table that it was almost a scene. She blinked at him in shock as his eyes fell on her with shocking intensity.

“Do you have any other classes today?” He asked in an unnecessarily loud voice, drawing the attention of nearby students. Linhardt’s head fell into his hand, humiliated by association. 

“Uh… I don’t,” she replied, and he grabbed her hand- rougher than he probably intended- with a beaming grin.

“Then as a birthday gift from me, lemme buy you lunch in the city!”

“Caspar!” She blushed, feeling an unfamiliar and frankly terrifying pounding of her heart, “I told you, you don’t have to do that!”

“No, I want to! Come on, Annie! You and Lin got me this great job, least I can do is buy you a birthday cake!”

Well he knew the magic word. Now cake was all Annette could think of. And besides that, she really hadn’t had a moment to talk to Caspar since he had been appointed. She’d been so busy with classes of her own, that she hadn’t even asked him how he was settling, or- just as curiously-  _ why _ he was settling. Perhaps this was a good opportunity. After all, she hadn’t planned much more for her birthday besides some nice tea and a hot bath.

“Well… you’ve talked me into it,” she smiled, standing. “Let me drop the book off in my room.”

“YEAH!” He boomed with victorious confidence, like he’d just won a fight. “I’m gonna change clothes! I’ll meet you by the gates when you’re ready!”

He exploded out of the dining hall like an arrow from a bow and Annette was left aghast in the wake of his energy, staring after him blankly. Linhardt set his fork down on his tray and stood.

“Well,” he said in his cool, unreadable voice. “Enjoy your date.”

For the one millionth time that afternoon, Annette flushed in embarrassment, wheeling on him. “It’s not a date!” She insisted a little too loudly. Lin said nothing, sweeping past her with an indiscernible expression. Aware suddenly of her surroundings, she looked around to see several students watching, giggling, whispering. “It’s NOT a date!” She insisted to them, too, before lowering her head and storming out of the dining hall towards the faculty rooms.

It wasn’t a date!

Right?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got really long... I could have split it into two but that would have ruined my rhythm so enjoy I guess

Caspar vaulted down the halls at a speed that belied his position as faculty, tearing his tunic off as soon as he entered his room and running to the bathroom. Soaking a towel, he quickly washed off the sweat from his morning workout- face, hands, chest, underarms- and tore through his clothing to find the cleanest shirt he owned. The absolute least he could do for her on her birthday was not smell like a gym. 

He couldn’t help the pinch of anxiety he felt in his chest. This was going to be his first time stepping foot in the kingdom capital since Dimitri and the Professor’s wedding. He was honestly a little nervous, given his heritage, but told himself it would be fine. Who would even ask? Who would ever know?

But Annette was worth it. She worked too hard every day, always helping her students and other faculty, always staying late in the library with Linhardt researching some new thing like she wasn’t already one of the smartest people he knew. If he could take her away from it all and give her a real break, just for an afternoon, he’d feel positively heroic.

He met her by the gate as promised, wearing a clean shirt. They smiled at each other as he approached, and with a gesture, he escorted her out of the gate and towards the city.

"I'm gonna make this birthday awesome for you, Annette!" He promised, and she giggled in delight.

"You don't even know where you're going!"

"Nope! It'll be an adventure!"

  
  


Fhirdiad was recovering beautifully from it’s time spent as an Imperial trophy. Shortly after the war had ended, the merchants felt safe to return, which brought the townspeople back to recover their homes. The restaurants and taverns followed, and now, five years later, it was though nothing had ever happened. Caspar marched confidently through the streets, as though he had any idea where he was going…. Which he did not. Annette seemed to recognize that Caspar had not been to the capital in five years, and took the lead in a subtle way, without mentioning a thing. Caspar appreciated this, though he was embarrassed to have already gotten lost so quickly.

_ Better get used to it,  _ he thought to himself.  _ This might be home for a while. _

Watching Annette easily navigate through the crowds, the thought didn’t strike him as unpleasant.

They ended up in a tidy little shopping district. Upscale cafes and merchant stalls were on elegant display, their wares quality and expensive, and the people were dressed finely. Though Caspar had come from wealth and this wasn’t anything shocking or abnormal to him, it did serve to remind him rather starkly that for the last five years he’d been back-alleying it in the seedier districts, passing out in stables and flea-ridden inns, eating watered-down stew and whatever he could cook over an open flame, and he never really hated any of it. Caspar even thought it suited him. He assumed during those times that he would feel uncomfortable being around high society again… but in a strange way, it actually felt a bit like coming home.

As he had the good sense to recognize that he’d pulled Annette away from lunch for this excursion, Caspar decided they should stop first at a tea shop. Everything he knew about her said she just LOVED tea and sweet snacks- especially if Mercedes made them- so that seemed like a gift she would probably like. Of course, being still new to the city, he didn’t know where the best ones were, but was determined not to let Annette lead any more than she already had so he just pulled her into the first tea parlour he found and hoped for the best.

“There we go!” He exclaimed proudly as they were seated, “this is pretty good, right? Don’t ever let anyone tell you Caspar leaves a girl hanging on her birthday!”

Annette giggled brightly, and he grinned in return, feeling a swell in his heart at the sparkle in her eyes.

He’d managed to eat most of his lunch before abruptly dragging her away for this impromptu party, and as such he didn’t order any food but joined her in a cup of tea. She ordered all the sweetest things on the menu, as he thought she might, and relished the smile that the flavors brought to her face. Caspar may not have been a very detail oriented guy, but he wasn’t a jerk- you don’t know a girl for some ten years and not know where to take her on her birthday.

And you also don’t survive a _ war _ with a girl and not notice when she doesn’t take her gloves off at lunch, even though she’s getting cookie dust and cream all over them. The corner of his mouth twitched when he made that observation. “Hey… you’re getting your gloves dirty,” he noted, forcing himself to sound casual. “You know you can take them off around me.”

Annette froze, as he thought she might. Maybe the polite thing to do would have been not to call attention to it, but he never really was one for thinking through anything before saying it. She looked down into her teacup with a wooden smile.

“I… like these gloves,” she said quietly. Caspar leaned back with a sigh. If he was a smart man, he would have dropped it there.

Caspar was not a smart man.

“You don’t have to hide your battle scars from me, Annette. I know I used to think magic was, like... I dunno.  _ Soft _ . It wasn’t the same as getting your hands around a weapon and swinging with all your might. But that was… a really shitty attitude” He idly picked up a fork, toying with it as he spoke. Annette didn’t say anything, but she was watching him quietly, and Caspar kept his focus on his silverware. He wasn’t avoiding her gaze for fear of what he’d seen in her eyes… but for fear of what she would see in his.

“During the war, I’d grip my axe so tight for so many hours that by the end of the day my hands were stuck in a claw-like position… I had to soak them in hot water to relax them enough to move my fingers. I thought that was something you couldn’t get with magic.”

He flexed and unflexed his calloused fingers, wondering why the Hell he had decided to start talking about this  _ now _ , of all times, of all days.

“Eventually I finally saw what had been happening to Linhardt. He’d been hiding it, I don’t know... for months. But after excessive magic use one battle, he just… couldn’t move them. His skin was cracked and bleeding, and there were these... white veins, like… spider-webbing around his fingers and palms. And I wanted to get him to a healer, but he WAS the healer. And I looked around and realized… Mercedes, and Manuela, and you… your hands  _ all _ looked like that. I felt like such an asshole. I ended up wrapping his hands up with some poultice myself.”

He felt like he was babbling. Caspar shook his hands out, as if the gesture would somehow get him to the point he was pretty sure he was trying to make.

“Look, I just… don’t want you to think you need to hide anything from me. I’m not judging you. If it makes you feel any better, I have some really kick-ass battle scars I could show you!"

He tugged at the hem of his shirt as though he meant to show her right now. Annette's somber mood was replaced immediately by red-faced shock, and then finally, laughter.

"I never meant for you to think I was hiding anything," she smiled, lips traced with a hint of melancholy. "I just… don't like the kids to see."

"Isn't it better if they do, though?" He asked seriously. "I mean, magic can be as dangerous as any sword. They should know the risks, right?"

“That’s not it.” Annette slid her white gloves down off her arms and set them aside. She reached across the table to show her hands to Caspar, and he reached forward to take them. As he suspected, her skin was stained with thin white swirls, circling around her fingers and palms. It was a strange texture- it felt like it was calloused beneath the surface. Soft hands, small and clean and so velvety compared to his own, but with coarse ridges embedded deeply and permanently within the tissue. He stroked them gingerly, his rough hands on her smooth like the tides lapping at a rocky shore. It felt calming.

“I just don’t like for the kids to be reminded that I was in the war,” she sighed softly. “I don’t like them to remember that I… I’ve had to kill people, before.”

Caspar felt a thorn in his heart at how sad she sounded. She was right to worry- the first thing the students had asked him, barely in the gate, was if he had been in the war, if he had killed people. It wasn’t a pleasant memory, a pleasant story, or a pleasant way for children to know you, in a world that wanted to put the war behind them.

"Okay," he said. "I understand. I'm sorry to get all dark. Heh… maybe we should get out of this shop, huh? Come on, I think I heard some music up the street!"

He pulled his hands away from hers and felt the loss of her skin on his like a hole, but ignored the emptiness and the strange, lonely feeling it pinned to his heart in favor of jumping to his feet, urging Annette to join him. She smiled gratefully, pulling her gloves back on as they exited the tea shop.

He had been right- there was music from somewhere outside. Excited, Caspar gripped Annette’s wrist and pulled her in the direction, following the sound. He’d always loved dancing, even though the professor  _ unwisely _ snubbed him for the White Heron Cup (whatever, the dancer class was stupid anyhow). He’d seen some excellent musicians at roadside taverns, and the most attention he ever got from girls would be after a night of drinking and dancing. He had impressed those barmaids well enough, so maybe Annette would be impressed as well!

Sure enough, they found the plaza, and a small band on a dias in the center playing upbeat, festive music. The crowd around them was colourful and lively, abuzz with people watching and dancing and humming along. Vendors were strewn about the square, selling food and drink and flowers and crafts, and the sparkling energy invigorated Caspar immediately. He found himself grinning with excitement, and a glance to Annette saw the same wide, cheerful smile on her face as well. Without a word, he pulled her into the masses and spun her into his arms for a dance.

Caspar’s technique was, one would say, more about enthusiasm than it was about grace. His skills were as blunt and hard as he was- too much force, too little finesse- but he put his all into it and most important, he was having _ fun. _ Annette, in her own way, was at a similar level to Caspar. Though her mother had wasted money, years, and many,  _ many _ hopes on Annette’s dance lessons, the girl had never quite managed to learn any footing. Her mind knew the steps but her feet couldn’t keep up, and every twirl was an invitation for disaster.

As such, they actually managed to compliment each other fairly well. A spectacle of incompetency, some might have described it, but vigorous and entertaining to watch. Annette was laughing breathlessly as Caspar led them around the square at a dizzying pace. She flushed as he tried to spin her out only to catch her own feet around each other, and would have tripped had he known the steps, but instead he spun her in again too soon and she only landed against his chest with an embarrassed giggle and a squeak. Caspar snorted, but simply tried again, unrelenting and unabashed at how many toes they stepped on, shoulders they bumped, how many other couples they chased away for fear of personal injury. They pulled together and pushed apart with an almost sense of rhythm, hands on shoulders and waists and each other's grip as the music played on, swishing skirt and stumbling feet, and the world at that moment only seemed to exist for themselves.

By the power of their combined energy, which was massive, the two of them managed three straight songs before finally deciding to take a break (to the relief of other dancers). Finding empty seats on a long bench, Annette sat gratefully. Caspar stood a moment longer as his body cooled from the exercise. It was a type of workout he didn’t get very often, the type that didn’t involve any weapons or violence at all- a type done purely for the joy of it. Wiping his forehead off with his hand, Caspar glanced down to Annette on the bench. She was sweating and smiling, the late afternoon sun catching in her fiery orange hair and off the sheen of her skin and Caspar thought she was positively glowing. She turned her rainy eyes up at him, sparkling with joy and he felt his breath catch strangely in his lungs. Why did he suddenly feel like he’d never really  _ seen _ her before? Her chest was heaving as she caught her breath and he couldn’t stop  _ noticing _ , and her lips were such a pretty shade of pink as she smiled at him in a way that made his heart squirm, and he was going to have to take her dancing more often if it meant she was going to look at him like THAT again- like he was her favorite person in the whole world.

“I- ..I’m gonna get us some water!” He announced rather suddenly. “You stay here, I’ll be right back!”

“Oh, thank you!” She called after him but he barely heard it, ducking quickly through the crowds. A nearby stall was selling refreshments but offered free water and he snatched a cup to throw directly over his head to the startled gasp of the proprietor. The sudden, soaking chill on his hair and shoulders helped ground him, and Caspar took a deep breath.

Why had his heart started pounding like that? Why was her face suddenly so,  _ so _ interesting? Why had his hand felt cold after releasing hers at the tea shop?

There were answers, somewhere buried deep at the bottom of his heart under lock and key. Answers he didn’t want to acknowledge. Caspar grabbed another cup of water, but drank this one, gulping it down greedily.

This didn’t have to be a big deal if he didn’t make it one. Caspar could handle this. He’d faced a thousand men with his life on the line before- he could face the smile of a pretty girl.

Grabbing another cup for Annette (the owner warned that any more and he'd make Caspar buy something), he turned back into the crowd to return to her when something caught his eye. Craftsman had stalls lined up all down the street and he'd thought maybe the two of them could stroll down next, maybe find, like, a weapons guy… but this would be the best chance he was going to get at secretly buying her a gift. 

Truth be told, a gift hadn't actually crossed his mind prior to this, as he figured the tea would do. But when he saw the earrings sparkling on display, bright but tasteful and the same stormy colour as her eyes, he knew he had to buy them.

Goddess help him, he already memorized the colour of her eyes. And he was the  _ least _ detail oriented person he knew. Caspar set the water cup down and opened his coin purse.

She was still on the bench when he found her again and he shoved the water into her hands. Annette accepted gratefully and gulped it down with a refreshing sigh. She had barely managed to open her mouth to thank him when Caspar impatiently interrupted her with wide eyes and a huge smile. “I got you a gift!”

“Caspar! You didn’t have to- oh!” She didn’t even have time to protest before he’d thrust his hand out to her, his open palm containing the earrings. Annette’s eyes widened, glimmering with interest as she took them from his hand, looking up at him as though she’d never received anything so lovely. “Is this okay?” She asked, overwhelmed, and Caspar blushed a little pink, straightening his spine with his hands on his hips.

“‘Course it is! It’s your birthday, isn’t it? Go on, put ‘em on!”

Her smile broadened as she fastened them into her ears, then shook her hair out around them. Small, simple stones embedded on a gold back dangled from her lobes, twinkling in the vanishing sun and reflecting light into her hair. Her smile was so luminous that Caspar suddenly thought he might understand why men buy jewelry and stuff for girls they like. He used to think he’d prefer to be with a girl who likes weapons more than jewelry, but when she leapt up and threw her arms around him in a grateful hug, Caspar thought he’d buy her a  _ thousand _ shiny rocks.

Shit. He was  _ not _ handling this.

They did in fact peruse through the market area next. Annette stopped to admire the craft jewelry, as well as the book stalls, and Caspar found a weapons’ merchant as he’d hoped. He didn’t end up buying anything, but he did talk Annette into asking the school administrators for some funding for new training weapons, as he had so few swords that if the students didn’t take turns he’d end up with some of them trying to swing an axe they were ungainly with, or pretending a blunted arrow had the weight of a sword. Annette took this concern seriously, and they two agreed later on they would talk to the treasurer about funding for supplies. The weapons merchant for her part promised she could deliver said training equipment if they ordered it, at a discount for bulk.

Before long, the sun was low in the sky. The market was shutting down as the taverns were filling up. Caspar had suggested they sit for a drink, but Annette had purchased a lovely wine from a vendor and wanted to take it home to open, possibly with Linhardt as well. Having no objections to that plan, he merrily led her down the boardwalk back to the school, chatting amicably the whole way.

“...So he’s still talking, right? Back turned, everyone can see me standing behind him, and I just give him a little tap on the shoulder, and he turns and just goes WHITE when he sees me, and I said, ‘You didn’t let me finish!’ And I POP him, right in the eye!”

Annette was laughing breathlessly at his story, and then covered her grinning lips as though caught giggling in class. “I hope he was alright,” she said, and he felt like she said that because she felt like SHE was  _ supposed _ to say that, and waved his hand.

“Oh, yeah. Guys like us take our lumps and then get a drink after! We even- HEY!”

He stopped suddenly when a drunken man staggered into him, elbowing past with a jerk. “S’cuzme,” he slurred, but Caspar whirled, furious.

“Nuh-uh,” he scowled. “Give it back.”

“...Huh?”

“Caspar…” Annette was clearly concerned by this sudden aggressive twist, but Caspar knew what he was doing, and took another threatening step forward.

“My wallet. You think I don’t know when I’m being pick-pocketed? Give it  _ back. _ ”

The drunken man stared back with eyes clear as bells, as though suddenly sober. He turned to run, but Caspar was faster, quickly catching him by the back of his shirt. In front of a full, horrified crowd, he forcibly pulled the man around and clocked him in the jaw with a powerful right fist. The left went low into his belly, and all at once the thief dropped. Caspar followed him down, reaching into his clothes to retrieve his coin purse.

“Th-theif!” The man cried, “I’m being robbed! Help me!”

Caspar shot him a glower as a final warning, and held the wallet up over his head.

“Annette, open this. If there's a ring with a blue gem in it, that proves it’s mine.”

Tentatively, Annette took the purse. There was a full crowd gathered now, concerned and uncertain, waiting with bated breath to see what she would find. Uncomfortably, she opened it, fishing around. Her eyes widened as she pulled out the ring with the blue gem. Caspar looked down at the thief pinned under him with eyes full of disgust. This was enough proof for the gathered crowd, who pointed at the thief when the guardsmen came to silence the commotion. Caspar lifted the man up off the ground to their care, and moved back to Annette, who gave him his wallet back with wide eyes. He moved away from the crowd and she followed quickly.

“Um. Are you okay?” She asked after him. He slowed to face her and raise an eyebrow. Did she think he was hurt?

“Of course!” He replied easily, moving still to escape the crowds with quick steps. “Guys like that don’t even  _ bruise _ my knuckles.”

“That’s not what I meant,” she huffed, trying to keep up with his long stride. “Caspar, slow down!”

He stopped, just outside a closed-up shop. The streets were only barely lit by the last gasps of sunlight as dusk cut long shadows across the city. Annette looked up at him, pain and worry in her features. Something twisted in his gut. Maybe she didn’t like seeing him fight. Maybe she didn’t like violence. After surviving a war like that, he supposed he couldn’t blame her. But fighting was what he  _ did _ . It was what he was good at, it was how he  _ survived _ . The pain and the adrenaline- it was how he knew he was still  _ alive. _

“I was just worried,” she finally admitted. “Usually when you fight- you don’t look like that. You look like you’re having fun. But this time you looked… so  _ angry _ . Are… you okay?”

Caspar gaped for a moment, unsure how to respond. She knew what he looked like when he fought? She had watched, seen, observed his expressions enough to know what he was  _ feeling _ when he punched? Since when?

Finally, he sighed, feeling like he was letting out a long breath he had been holding, and took out his coin purse with a small, disappointed frown.

“It’s kinda hypocritical,” he said, pulling the ring with the blue gem out of the bag. “I hate thieves and liars like him. But I stole this ring.”

Her eyes widened in surprise, and Caspar felt gutted to see it.

“You  _ stole _ that? From whom?”

“From my mom.” His heart was heavy thinking about it as he placed the ring on his pinky finger, like so many times before when he got homesick.

“That first year, when Edelgard declared war,” he continued, “I went home. I didn’t know what  _ else _ to do. But my family- especially my dad- they were all supporting Edelgard. They kept expecting me to join my dad on the battlefield, against the kingdom. And it felt…  _ wrong _ to me. Edelgard had started a  _ war _ . She was killing innocent people. How could I stand by that?”

He swallowed thickly, feeling something heavy inside him to remember all this. Annette was watching him, with such concern and sorrow. He had never told this story to anyone before… It was harder than he thought it would be.

“So I decided to leave home. I was gonna go travel around and see the world and help people. I packed up a bag in the middle of the night. But I just…” He twisted the ring around his finger, struggling to find the words. “...I just… wanted a keepsake. When I was a kid I always liked how this ring sparkled on her finger. I tried to touch it all the time. My mom said I could have it when I was older. ...but I couldn’t wait. I left her a note telling her what I’d done and what I took and not to worry. And I left.”

He was overcome with guilt about it. For all his hatred of dishonesty, he’d stolen from his own mother out of pointless sentimentality. Annette was looking at him with such a sorrowful expression, and he knew she must be extremely disappointed in him- until she threw her arms around him in a crushing hug.

“I’m so sorry.” Her tone was muffled where she buried her face in his collar, and he was flushing hot, unsure what to do with his hands. “That sounds so sad.”

“...Yeah,” was all he could think to say. Tentatively, Caspar wrapped his arms around Annette, accepting her hug, and found it warm and comforting, like a blanket. For all the fights he got in… when was the last time someone had touched him with affection?

It was probably that night when he found her in the woods, and she let him hold her through his nightmares. Maybe this afternoon when she let him touch her hand. Somehow it was always her.

“Um… sorry if I ruined your birthday,” he mumbled awkwardly. Annette pulled back to beam at him, and he smiled in return, affected.

“You made my birthday wonderful!” She exclaimed. A satisfied grin split his lips, face heated by her compliment.

“Didn’t I tell ya? Don’t let anybody say Caspar leaves a girl hangin’ on her birthday!”

Annette giggled, pulling away from the embrace and lifting her purchased bottle of wine. “Let's go find Linhardt and finish the night off right,” she said mischievously, and Caspar laughed in agreement. He put his mother’s ring back in his wallet and they walked side by side back to the school.

  
  


***

A  _ thunk _ of an arrow hitting its target, and her pleading eyes all at once went dull. He was rooted to the spot, watching her fall, unable to do anything about it, unable to catch her, unable to heal her. He wanted to scream, but nothing came out. Blood pooled around her, around his feet, as more and more arrows pierced the earth around them. It was the blood that held him in place, prevented him from moving, from running, and he was panicking, swinging his axe wildly. A clash of steel met his weapon as a sword struck from nowhere. His opponent pushed against him with incredible strength but he couldn’t recognize them, couldn’t focus on their face- couldn’t FIND a face. With growing horror, he realized it didn’t HAVE a face- he was fighting a body with no head. Just a gaping stump of bone and viscera at the neck, spouting blood with each move. Caspar screamed.

He was still screaming when he awoke, bolting upright in a terrified frenzy. Panting to catch his breath, he looked around the room- no blood, no bodies. Just his room at the Institute of Magic, quiet and dark. With trembling hands, he reached for a glass of water at his bedside, trying to cool his pounding heart and breathless lungs.

There was a knock at the door, and it opened without his saying anything. A single candle illuminated Linhardt as he entered, shutting the door quietly behind him. Caspar wiped the sweat off his face with his hands, embarrassed as Lin set the candle down on his nightstand and took a seat at a desk chair, looking at him with marginally more concern that he usually allowed on his indiscernible face.

“You had that dream again.” 

“...Yeah.”

Linhardt sighed. Then, he opened a book, propped it on his lap, and began to quietly read. Caspar blinked at him in confusion.

“...Lin, you don’t have to-”

“I was awake anyhow. I hope you can sleep with a candle lit. I need the light.”

Resigned, Caspar turned back into his bed, away from the candle light, and away from Lin to hide the small, relieved smile on his face.


End file.
